Bitter Echo Sidestories and Alternate Endings
by Lamia of the Dark
Summary: Exactly what the title says. Each chapter will contain a sidestory or alternate ending to Bitter Echo. Rating may be changed to M later. New chapters coming, eventually...
1. Alternate Ending 1: Lucius Saves Bella

**DISCLAIMER: All things Harry Potter belong to J.K. Rowling.**

**A/N: Each chapter of this will be a self-contained alternate ending or sidestory to Bitter Echo. Most will be told in first person, although some might be done in third person.**

-- Bitter Echo Sidestories and Alternate Endings --

Alternate Ending 1: Lucius Doesn't Let Bella Go Home

(_Lucius_)

That night, after Narcissa and Bellatrix come out of the Dark Lord's room, when I am holding Narcissa in my arms, I see Bella watching us. In that moment she looks so hurt, so lost, so broken.

And I decide. I will not let her go back to her own room and the hell that is waiting for her.

I hold out my hand to her and she takes a faltering step in my direction. She seems unable to decide whether to come to me or walk away. But that single step brought her close enough. I pull her to me gently, holding her against my chest. She leans into the embrace.

"You're going to stay in our room tonight," I tell her.

(_Bellatrix_)

I thought I couldn't possibly cry anymore, but when Lucius pulls me into his arms and tells me that I'm not going home tonight, I break into a fresh round of tears.

Narcissa slides her arm around my waist. I can't remember the last time I actually let anyone hug me. (I almost always had a cracked rib or two that I had to hide.)

That night, I sleep snuggled between my sister and her husband in their bed and for the first time in a long time I feel like I am loved. I feel the fragile threads of hope.

**A/N: Reviews are love. The next alternate ending will feature Voldemort NOT punishing Bella.**


	2. Alternate Ending 2: No Punishment

-- Bitter Echo Sidestories and Alternate Endings --

Alternate Ending 2: Voldemort Doesn't Punish Bella

(_Voldemort_)

I close the door with a casual flick of my wand, but I don't release my hold on Bella's wrist.

She opens her mouth to speak but my fingers close tighter around her wrist in warning and she stops. I can practically feel the fear radiating off her. She must believe that I truly intend to punish her.

"Tell me about your mission," I command.

Her face lights up with evil glee as she relates the details of her mission.

Absentmindedly, I begin to stroke her palm with my thumb while I listen.

Bella's voice falters.

"Go on," I say.

She licks her lips and picks up where she left off. Her speech is slightly erratic, and I realize that my touch is making her nervous.

"Enough. I don't need to hear every little detail."

She stops speaking. Her expression turns wary. She is expecting her punishment to begin at any time, but she doesn't know what I am planning to do to her...

I lift my free hand to cup her cheek and tilt her head back.

"This will be as much a reward for you as it is a punishment for him," I tell her.

But before my mouth can close over hers-

"My lord, please don't!" Bella gasps.

I don't understand why she doesn't want me to. As if it weren't totally obvious from the level of her fanatical devotion that she is completely obsessed with me...

"It isn't going to hurt," I reassure her.

But she is shaking her head, tears in her eyes. She doesn't want it.

"It only won't hurt until she gets home."

That statement could be taken many different ways. I turn my gaze to Narcissa. (I'd honestly forgotten she was even in the room.)

"What did you mean by that?"

Narcissa starts to answer but Bella shrieks, "_NO! Cissa, don't you dare tell him or I swear to God I'll_..."

Then she breaks into hysterical sobs and I find myself trying to comfort her.

This... is not going how I planned.

I glare at Narcissa over the top of Bella's head.

"You. Are going. To tell me. _Everything_," I snarl.

Narcissa bites her lip and meekly nods her head.

- five hours later -

Rodolphus Lestrange has died a horrible death. From the way Narcissa was crying when she left, Lucius is probably still trying to figure out what the hell I did to her - even though I actually didn't do anything at all. And Bella is sleeping peacefully beside me in my bed. My scent clings to her skin...


	3. Sidestory: The Strange Divorce

**A/N: Spoilers for chapter 34 of Bitter Echo. **

**This chapter will be told in 3rd person.**

-- Sidestory: The Strange Divorce --

As he sat down to dinner with his family, Arthur Weasley said, "You know, a strange thing happened at work today... It seems that the Lestranges have filed for divorce. In the middle of all this, can you believe it?"

"Have they been arrested, then?" George asked eagerly.

"No, son, they didn't actually come to the ministry themselves. They just sent in the relevant forms," Arthur answered.

"But why would they get divorced in the middle of all that's going on?" Fred asked, sounding like he was trying to honestly figure it out but not coming up with any answers.

"Well, the reason was listed as 'infidelity'," Arthur explained. "And it is a legal document, both their signatures are on it... but it doesn't look like the rest of the form was filled out by either of them. In fact, the experts are saying it looks like it might be the Dark Lord's own handwriting..."

So... the Dark Lord was forcing the Lestranges to get divorced... on the grounds of infidelity...

And that _really_ didn't bear further thought.

-tbc-

**A/N: Reviews are love.**


	4. Alternate Ending 3: 2nd Baby Lives

**A/N: I was planning to (but didn't) include the detail in Bitter Echo that Bella has always wondered if she'd just said some name, any name, would Rodolphus have given her a chance to explain and if she'd begged to be allowed to have the baby, would he have let her keep it?**

-- Alternate Ending 3: Bella Lies to Save the Second Baby --

(_Bellatrix_)

"Who's the father?" he demands.

He is. But he doesn't even remember what he's done to me. My mind goes blank.

"_Who is it?!_" he shouts when I hesistate.

I cringe against the wall. _Say a name, any name!_ I'm screaming at myself in my mind. _Lie like hell, Bella, because the truth is going to get your baby killed... again_.

"Lucius," I choke out, my voice strangled with emotion.

"Malfoy?" Rodolphus says, his eyebrows shooting up in surprise.

I cover my mouth with my hands and nod.

"But, he's... married to your sister," he says in obvious confusion. "And, their kid is about to be born any day now... Malfoy never shuts up about it..."

I feel the tears starting to fall but I can't stop myself from crying. I don't care what lie I have to tell, as long my baby gets to live.

"I love him," I whisper.

And then Rodolphus does the last thing I would have expected him to do. He takes me into his arms. I'm surprised by the tenderness with which he holds me.

"Gods, Bella," he says quietly into my hair. "What are we going to do?"

"I want it," I say, my voice choked with tears. "Please let me keep it."

I sob into his shoulder and he rubs my back soothingly.

"Of course you can keep the baby," he says, and I wonder if he feels guilty about what he did to our first child. "We can't let anyone know that the baby isn't mine." _It **is** yours_. I almost wish I could tell him. I want to laugh when he says he'll raise it as if it were his own. "And even if the kid is born with blond hair, that doesn't necessarily mean anything. I mean someone in your family must have it, Narcissa is blond..." He trails off. "How far along are you, anyway?"

"Five months."

"People are going to wonder why we've waited so long to say anything about you being pregnant."

I take a deep breath. "We'll tell them... that I've miscarried before, and I wanted to be sure I'd be able to keep this one before we told anyone about it. It's not even a lie, really..."

I look up at him and see that his expression is pained. I'm surprised to see tears in his eyes.

"Oh, Bella, honey, I'm so sorry," he says, hugging me tightly. "I've felt so guilty about that ever since I did that to you..."

"It's alright."

"It's _not_ alright! Jesus, Bella, that was _our child_."

"It's not alright," I concede. "But's it's the past now. There's nothing we can do about it except move on." He's not exactly very good at moving on, if the whole going-back-to-his-ex-after-we-were-married/being-constantly-drunk-since-said-ex-died thing is anything to go by.

- four months later -

(_Rodolphus_)

After I found out Bella was pregnant, I sobered up and I was surprised how quickly things fell back into place. It was almost as though we'd gone back to the beginning of our marriage again, almost as if I'd never cheated and never taken our child away from her, almost as if I'd never come home so drunk that I couldn't remember the next morning that I'd gotten violent with her. Almost.

Something is different between us than it was before. We both know now that it's possible we won't always be faithful to each other, and that it's possible anger will turn to violence. We never would have thought either of those things were possible before they actually happened.

I've learned that some things can never be erased. Some things can never be forgiven. Even if she forgives me for what I've done to her, I can never forgive myself.

(_Bellatrix_)

Today is the day our son was born. His hair is black. We named him Falcon.

-end of AE3-

**A/N: Reviews are love.**


	5. Alternate Ending 4: Strangers in a Bar

-- Alternate Ending 4: Strangers in a Bar --

(_Voldemort_)

It is early evening and the bar is already crowded, full of people who are either miserable or desperate to find a mate. There is only one person who manages to catch my interest. A woman sitting at the bar, seemingly perfectly content to be alone. She is well-dressed, an elegant dark beauty, obviously pureblood. Much too high-class for such a low-class place. This is what draws my interest.

I sit beside her and inquire what she is drinking.

She smirks and replies flatly, "Water."

"Why did you come to a bar, then?" I ask, nonplussed. If she were already intoxicated, drinking the water would be understandable but she is not.

"To drown my sorrows."

"In water?"

The smirk returns. "In other peoples' sorrows."

This catches me by surprise.

"I look at all of them," she continues, "I overhear the things they confess to the bartender, and I think of how many of them have it so much worse than I do... Of course, if I wasn't pregnant I'd be getting shitfaced drunk with the rest of them."

And here I'd thought she couldn't surprise me more than she already had.

She brings the glass to her mouth and it is then that I notice the rings on her hand. So, she is married. Married, pregnant, and miserable. Only the misery doesn't seem to fit correctly in that equation, unless it is either the pregnancy or the marriage itself making her miserable. She has already admitted that isn't drinking alcohol out of concern for the baby's health, which leads me to believe that _that_ - in and of itself - is not what caused her to seek solace in the misery of others in the first place.

She goes on to tell me how her husband is abusive, and how she'd like to keep the child but is afraid that once he finds out about it, he will kill it. He's done it before. She would leave, but she is trapped in the marriage. Her younger sister has already dragged her family's name through the mud, and as the oldest she must be the one to provide a good example for her _other_ sister. I say nothing, and after a brief pause she continues to speak, telling me how her husband was perfectly wonderful until his old girlfriend - a halfblood - came back into his life, _after_ they were already married, and with the announcement of her first preganancy, the abuse began. Her husband's mistress is dead now and the mistress's family does not allow him contact with his bastard child, and he takes all of this out on _her_. She doesn't mention any names, referring to each person only by their relation to her.

Finally, I come out and ask, "What is your name?"

She gives me an odd look, and it takes me a moment to realize that she thinks I'm hitting on her - despite the fact that she just told me she's married. She doesn't know who I am. To her, we are simply strangers in a bar.

"Bellatrix Lestrange."

The shock must be evident on my face, because she is giving me a strange look again - like she is trying to figure out if I am indeed someone she knows.

Truthfully, we have never met before. But I know her husband. In fact, I know him very well. And to think, he has been doing such things behind my back while masquerading as a loyal Death Eater...

"Although you have not asked, I shall tell you. My name is-" I lean over whisper it in her ear.

Her expression is priceless.

"Do not worry about your husband... I shall personally resolve the matter."

-end-

**Reviews are love.**


	6. AE 5: Rod Loves Bella & Never Cheats

**A/N: Because this one was begging to be written.**

**A/N: Takes place when Bella is 18, and telling Rod that she's pregnant with their first child. I've skewed the canon timeline a bit at the end.**

-- Alternate Ending 5: Rod Loves Bella & Never Cheats --

(_Bellatrix_)

"I'm pregnant."

He looks surprised for a moment, then he breaks into a grin and scoops me up into his arms, holding me tightly against his chest.

"I can hardly believe it," he says, sounding stunned. "Bella, this is _wonderful_!"

Then he kisses me. It's different than normal, rougher, but not unpleasant...

(_Rodolphus_)

Clothes are coming off before we even make it to the bedroom, and then we're rolling around between the sheets, making love more passionately than we ever have before.

(_Bellatrix_)

We're laying in each other's arms, laughing and gasping for breath when suddenly someone starts knocking on the door.

_Who the hell would be coming to our house at this time of night?_

Then I hear my mother's voice screeching my name.

We quickly pull our clothes on and rush downstairs.

(_Narcissa_)

They answer the door together, faces flushed, hair mussed, clothing not quite on correctly. It's obvious, even to someone as young and inexperienced as myself, that they've just had sex.

(_Rodolphus_)

It's not just her mother. Her father and Narcissa are here, too. Bella's parents look furious. Her sister just looks confused.

"You haven't heard, have you?" Mrs. Black says, tactfully refraining from mentioning what it looks like we were obviously up to just now, which in any other situation I'm sure she _would_ say something about.

I wonder what's gone wrong.

(_Bellatrix_)

My mother puts her hands on my shoulders and says something about Andromeda running off with a mudblood, but I'm too excited about my baby to really listen.

(_Narcissa_)

Mother tells her about Andromeda betraying our family but Bella doesn't really seem to be listening.

"Mother, I'm pregnant," she blurts out.

Mother glances at Rodolphus. Of course the baby is his, it's barely been a year since they've been married and they're still _ridiculously_ in love with each other. I hope that Lucius and I never act like my sister and her husband. How embarassing that would be...

But I _am_ excited to be an auntie.

(_Bellatrix_)

Mother folds me into a hug and pets my hair.

"You always were my good girl," she says.

(_Rodolphus_)

Eight months later, Bella gives birth to a healthy baby girl. She seems disappointed that it isn't the son we were hoping for, but she grins when I remind her that we can always try again. Unlike those despicable Weasleys, we _can_ afford to have however many children we want.

"What should we name her?" I ask.

But Bellatrix shakes her head. "You pick."

I think for a moment before answering.

"Renata."

Bella is pregnant with our second child when the Dark Lord falls and I am arrested by Aurors. I do not see her again before I die in the Battle Of Hogwarts sixteen years later...

(_Bellatrix_)

Narcissa's son is born three months before my second child. She names him Draco, but it dosen't matter because my baby turns out to be a girl. I name her Saturna.

-end-

**Reviews are love.**


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